Hélène Terré

In 1990, Terré entered a Paris retirement facility where she died on 11 November 1993 at the age of 90. She was remembered at a memorial ceremony on 21 January 1994, held at the prestigious Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, which is dedicated to the military history of France. The ceremony was attended by many alumni from Free France.

Commander Terré completed her Army duties in 1947 after finishing assignments in Indochina and Austria.

Captain Terré took command of the Corps from Captain Simonne Mathieu. General Charles de Gaulle, commander of the Free French Forces, presented the French Volunteers pennant to Terré in London, on 12 November 1942. In April 1944 she became commander of the Female Auxiliaries of the Army in France.

As an official at the Red Cross in France, she was sent to England in 1941 to recover medicines and vitamins for French children, she was arrested and imprisoned for three months on the initiative of Jacques Meffre, head of the security services responsible for identifying the undercover agents.

In 1941, Terré joined the CVF. By doing so, she pledged to follow the armies of Combat France in every respect, on all fronts, for the duration of the war plus three months. As a uniformed recruit, she passed the required physical training (including drills and military discipline). Some volunteers were selected for special training according to their skills and inclinations, such as office and secretarial workers, nurses, translators, interpreters, telephone operators, cooks, motor drivers, mechanics and more. In addition, there are instructional courses for those wishing to improve their English language skills. In general, the women were assigned positions replacing men who could then be sent to serve in combat units.

The Corps of French Volunteers (CVF) had been created in London on 7 November 1940, composed of 70 women (limited to only 100) and led by Capt. Simonne Mathieu, who was formerly the internationally known 1930s French tennis champion. As soon as news of the formation of a volunteer corps was made public, many Frenchwomen residing in England hastened to join, and it was not long before the first contingent was sent for training.

Hélène Marguerite Marie Terré (1903 - 1993) was a French resistance fighter engaged in the Free French Forces during World War II. She served in London with the French Volunteer Corps and assumed corps command from Captain Simonne Mathieu. In April 1944, she took command in France of the Army's Female Auxiliaries.

Great-granddaughter of Hilaire Laurent Terré, Hélène was born on 26 April 1903 in Paris, the fourth and last daughter of Laurent Terré, an army commander and Jeanne Marguerite Delasalle.